Relation of Dominance and Exploitation among Classes

ownership as the result of Reaganism in 1980s Sultana, 2011: 1; Dreier, 2004: par.12. Repressive ideologies refuse to acknowledge themselves as ideologies, and they pass themselves as natural or obvious facts among society. These ideologies refuse the connection between society’s material conditions and the way the people perceive their world. Therefore, they hamper society from understanding the materialhistorical conditions by posing as natural ways of seeing the world. Example of this ideology is the belief that some people were born with innate superior quality than the others, thus they are justified to have a better quality of life or even have the right to subordinate people with different characteristic, such as color, gender, or social class. This had been practiced in the past, with slavery and the domination towards the working class people. These practices leave residue that is prolonged into the present. Another example of these ideologies are the inability to acknowledge the existence of classes in advanced nations such as the United States of America, or refusal to admit the existence of discrimination or subordination towards minorities or the underprivileged. The sharp class disparities represented by the slums in urban housing, the homeless in the streets, or the unfair social justice system are repressed by the ideology that put the blames on individuals’ lack for determination, or for moral fibre, labelling the victims of the unjust socioeconomic conditions as the undeserving poor, those who earn their own unfortunate conditions. This kind of world view support the status quo which disadvantages the underprivileged classes both by the higher classes’ refusal to acknowledge the flawed system, or by the absence of internal recognition of the lower classes that they are being deprived systematically. On the other hand, nonrepressive ideologies such as Marxism, aims to produce awareness of the existence of repressive ideologies that divert the people from understanding themselves as the products of their socioeconomic circumstances. Hence, nonrepressive ideologies prevent the subservience of the working class people to the order established by the ruling class’ repressive ideologies Tyson, 2006: 57. Capitalism, as a resounding ideology today, can be categorized into the realm of repressive ideology due to its function in naturalizing the injustice social system in the society. Capitalism justifies the misery of the masses in legitimizing the power and prosperity of particular group in the society. It permeates the way individuals perceive their world, helping them to accept their conditions as the way it is supposed to be, despite the existence of discrimination and ignorance to the marginalized masses in society. Capitalism takes the form of obviousness, it is perceived as common logic, for example the view that if one is capable to pursue happiness, if one works really hard for it. Or the belief that poverty is the result of the lack of perseverance and efforts. It justifies the marginalization of the underpriviledged people. Whereas this view hides the reality which the unemployment of the underpriviledged people is caused by the systemic discrimination in work place and education, hence creating the vicious circle upon which they cannot escape. In this case, capitalism works to create a space in which individuals, the underpriviledged people, are able to make sense of their